Starting on wheel#2. This wheel had some damage that needed to be repaired. It had a curb grind that needed to be welded up with a tig welder and a few deep pits(craters) that I had welded up. Here it is just back from the welder.
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I spent about 15 minutes with a hand file smoothing and shaping the built up area. You can see a color difference where it was welded but I'm hoping that will be less noticeable as at gets sanded smooth. I ordered some sanding drums for my dremel tool and I hope it will get in the deep area to smooth out the welds.
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This is the area that was welded up. There are some tiny pin holes but you have to look close to see them.
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Wheel #2 is now sanded with 320 grit. I just got in some sanding drums for my dremel tool. I hope I can get down in the deep part of the wheel with them. I have 2 welds left to clean up and they are in the worst place.
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I was going to leave the lugnut holes raw because they are hard to get in but I just can't do it.
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I bought some 1 inch 80 grit flap wheels to use inside the holes to smooth them out. Used some rubbing compound on a cone shaped buff on this hole.
Before
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And now
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I thought I should show what I use to polish my parts so here we go.
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This is the sand paper assortment I work with. Each step finer removes the scratches from the previous grit. If you skip from coarse to fine without going step by step you will spend along time trying to get out the scratches. Now for some power tools.
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I use my big drill with a 2 inch 180 grit flap wheel. This works great on the inside of the slots to get them smooth. My Dremel tool has a 1 inch 80 grit flap wheel. This did a good job of smoothing inside the lug nut holes. The other Dremel tool has an extension shaft mounted to it. It has a 1/4 inch sanding drum on it that I used to flatten the welds in the deep part of wheel number 2.
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This odd looking flap wheel I made myself. I took a new 80 grit wheel and glued in 1/2 inch squares of 320 wet sand paper with clear silicone. I used this to smooth the lug nut holes after the 80 grit wheel. I dipped it in water repeatedly and kept it moving in and out like a cylinder hone.
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My case of assorted sanding and polishing bits. The white felt buffs work good for polishing in tight areas._________________87 924S

This is the first wheel after I went back and did more work on it. More attachments arrived for my Dremel tool so I polished inside the lug nut holes. I also painted the logo on the center cap and then re sanded the wheel completely. Now I'm pretty happy with the results.
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I said I would be painting the back side of the wheels. My mistake was doing it in the wrong order. Even after masking the front some overspray got threw onto the polished side. Opps! 4 coats of primer then wet sanded smooth. I used Dupli-color auto paint for the finish coats. If you paint the back side of your wheels make sure to remove all paint from the mounting surface where the wheel touches the hub. This could wear away causing wheel nuts to loosen. NOT GOOD!
Hard to believe that if you are willing to spend hours and days(maybe weeks) with sand paper in hand wearing off your finger prints and sometimes bleeding that you can do this too. It started with 2 $20 almost junk wheels.
If you look at all of this and think is it really worth it? You may be more mentally stable than I am but sanity is over rated. Oh well. Cars make us all a little bit crazy. The rear wheels are now done. I hope to get the fronts back from the sand blaster this week then it all starts again.
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I got my 6" fronts back from sand blasting. The castings are perfect with no pitting. I started sanding the back side and put the first primer coats in it. The more you do this job the better you get at finding the best order to do things in. I will get all the paint work done on the backside before I start on the front.
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